Formula 51
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Movie Reviews of Formula 51
Movie Review: Great comedy
Summary: 5 Stars
Sick, not a word I'd used very often, but it applies to this film in places. If sick makes you laugh, and it makes me laugh, then you'll have a great ole time with this movie. If [vulgarity] does not make you laugh, don't see it. Kinda reminded me of Peter Jackson in his younger days before Lord of the Rings. Think Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles.Movie Review: Classic One to Cherish
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie has it all. I was in hysterics during a significant portion of this movie and any film that does that should be in your DVD collection. Far better IMO than the hugely overrated `Pulp Fiction' but along similar lines. Call it Pulp with humor and you'll get what I'm talking about. Go buy it!Movie Review: Classic - One to Cherish
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie has it all. I was in hysterics during a significant portion of this movie and any film that does that should be in your DVD collection. Far better IMO than the hugely overrated `Pulp Fiction' but along similar lines. Call it Pulp with humor and you'll get what I'm talking about. Go buy it!Movie Review: Great movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I haven't laughed so hard in a long while. This is a great movie. Sam Jackson and Robert Carlyle are brilliant. Lots of action and laughs. Well worth a watch. :)Movie Review: Incoherent and Cartoon-ish, But Still I Love This One
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a typical example of love-or-hate film. I happened to love this one, so read this review as a message from such a fan. But, I am afraind, some of the audiences, largely American professional critics, seem to be missing the point, or very British feature of the film, so let me have a word here.The film is mainly set in Liverpool. Samuel L. Jackson's character Elmo, arriving there from USA just now, is going to have a very big deal with the local gang (Ricky Tomlinson). It's all about a formula, with which you can make a 100% legal drug of which effect is 51 times as enhanced as the usual stuff in the market. Felix (Robert Carlyle) is appointed to meet Elmo at the airport and escort him to the boss's, but when a violent shoot-out begins, Felix, fiercely hating America, and fiercely loving "Reds" (Liverpool football team), is the only one Elmo can rely on.
Well, that is a plot, but that is not the point after all, for there are lots of incredible situations: Sam Jackson wearing kilt (for what?), Rhys Ifans's fire-arm dealer (who is deep into yoga), Emily Mortimer's sexy assassin, and you know the film's not taking itself seriously when Meat Loaf appears as the most (intenntionally, I hope) hammy gangster. Let's forget about coherence and logic. Just fun, OK?
The director Ronny Yu is well-known for his films in Hong-kong era (which Sam Jackson, executive-producer of this film, obviously loves), and hilarious, non-sense-filled "Bride of Chucky" (which I love). His shamelessly showy, and often very bawdy style is there again. The tone of the film is not consistent, jumping from the downright cartoon-ish violence into a romantic love-scene in a bathtub, and then dead-pan humor of Jackson. The film is brimmed with "Pulp Fiction"-like energy; only, "Formula 51" doesn't know (or doesn't want to know) how to restrain it, to be as organized as Tarantino. Try to enjoy it as it is; or just stay away.
Finally, some might think Robert Carlyle's wild attitude as football fan is too incredible. It is not. If you know the heated supporters of football games; or, famous rivalry between the nearby teams (like, Newcastle vs Sunderland), his character is just authentic. So, when he sings loudly the hit song of Liverpool-born group Gerry and the Pacemakers "You'll Never Walk Alone" in a Manchester pub, the British audience would know what this provoking action means. (The writer of the film is also a British Stel Pavlou.) And, believe me or not, his too many "F" word is nothing unusual (so, don't be offended).